Corruption

A former southwestern Pennsylvania police chief serving more than 11 years behind bars for extortion wants a federal judge to reduce his sentence to less than seven years because he’s tried to turn his life around and found God.

Former Pennsylvania Supreme Court Justice Joan Orie Melvin has dropped her appeal of her campaign corruption conviction and has submitted drafts of apology letters she is ordered to send to other state judges and former staffers while serving her house arrest sentence.

A former Pennsylvania Supreme Court justice convicted of corruption was spared on Thursday the further embarrassment of having to write her court-ordered apologies to every judge in the state on photos of herself in handcuffs.

Public corruption is no stranger to this state, whether it’s Republicans like former Pennsylvania Sen. Jane Orie and House Speaker John Perzel or Democrats like former Pennsylvania Rep. Mike Veon and House Speaker Bill DeWeese.